WMware Workstation 15 Bridging Totally Useless !! I Mean Totally Useless ??

[jimbos]

Hello guys.....

Well wow wow wow

hey! have you ever seen so many google posts on how to repair network bridging in VMware workstation 15 and Windows 10 ??

it would seem VMWARE workstation15 is totally buggy and messed up with the latest windows 10 if wanting to bridge a NIC with HOST & Virtual VM, unless I'm missing something?

there are page after page after page, many all saying the same thing and still, after trying everything It still does not work

how buggy and messed up is VMWARE workstation 15, the very latest build, I am seriously asking myself when it comes to bridging a simple network card on the Host and VM ??

how hard can this be????

NAT works every time, BUT I DO NOT WANT TO USE NAT! , I would like bridge mode

whatever far away hidden VMWARE registry or config setting has got changed to STOP BRIDGE MODE WORKING?? is staying that way for good now!

YES, I have had bridging working on my windows 10 PC HOST & VIRTUAL PC, but not for long???

then my bridging stopped working, the only way I could get it working again was to add a new physical intel PCI network card to my motherboard

I then had two network interfaces one realtek and intel. not ideal but hey! bridging was working again only on the new network intel card..... oh again NOT FOR LONG....

The Realtek stopped working and by adding the intel I was able to get bridging working, I then discarded the realtek and used the intel interface

now that's stopped working with VMware bridge mode ????

I can't keep adding new network cards every few days, this VMWARE workstation 15 bridging is TOTALLY TOTALLY FLAWED!

I have tried everything,

using virtual network editor to uninstall all the network VMnet numbers

and recreate them

I have tried resetting defaults networks

I tried forgetting bridging on VMnet0

and creating a new bridge network on other VM numbers and then setting that custom VM number in the network config for the VM

I tried editing and erasing all network settings from the .vmx files

I tried deleting all the host network adapters / now adapter and reinstalling all the windows 10 drivers

I tried reinstalling VMtools inside the virtual machine

I have tried under settings for each virtual machine deleting all the network adapters and the re-adding the virtual network adapters again for the VM

I have tried turning off the firewalls,

I have ensured that the VM bridging protocol is attached to the real selected network adapter I want to use for bridging

I have no 3rd party VPN software, antivirus software, Firewall software, just default Windows 10 Defender

I have no other software installed that would stop this from working

I have read post after post after post on other people issues with Bridging workstation 15 and Windows 10 64bit latest build, and there are NO shortage of people with the same issues

I followed every workaround in the many posts, every suggestion, every fix suggested, and Nothing Works ??

NOTHING BUT NOTHING GETS BRIDGING WORKING once it has STOPPED for a given network card running the latest VM15 Workstation and the Latest Window 10 64bit

The VM workstation 15 bridge networking is floored!

I have wasted days trying to get this working, I was hoping to use VMWARE workstation for my company, but this software seems far far far too buggy!

I'm not stupid when it comes to computer and networks, I'm running Cisco WS-C2960X-48TS-L switch and cisco ASA 5506X router, these are serious bits of kit, everything else on the network works fine, internet on the host pc works fine, it just will NOT bride to the virtual VM ??

Before I give up totally, Oh and I have wasted day and days with this floored VM workstation

If anybody could shine the slightest glimmer of light as to why BRIDGING is dead in VM workstation 15 with windows 10 it would be very very very much appreciated

if not I'm gonna look for another pro VM software, as they seem to be major major bugs being hidden

Thanks in advance for any help

Regards

[dariusd]

Hi jimbos,

I think your C2960X might support Port Security (I'm not a Cisco guru, so I might be wrong).  If it does, have you checked that it is disabled?  Port Security will cause havoc with bridged networking.  Also check that the unit is running the most up-to-date IOS available for it, and see if it is raising any alerts, particularly if they involve MAC learning.

A note about posting in the forums: Most of the people here are volunteers who help others out of kindness and generosity.  Some of us are VMware employees (like me) who also try to help out in their own time and outside their specific area of expertise.  Please keep your fellow forum users in mind when writing here.  You're clearly frustrated, but venting like you have done above is only going to drive away the skilled volunteers you are asking for help.

--

Darius

[jimbos]

Thank you for your reply and info, will look into this

and yes I understand what you say, I am very very frustrated, and the venting is not aimed at anyone on here,

when nothing seems to work and many many wasted hours, it gets a bit hard going

anyway I appreciate any help and advise

possible something could be blocking in the switch ??? it a beast and complicated item

regards

[jimbos · Accepted solution]

OK GUYS

I need to say SORRY for the RANT........

This problem was nothing to do with WMware Workstation....... I seriously apologise, but NOTHING would fix the bridging issue, so wrongly assumed it was the software.

It has driven me crazy over the last 3 weeks and eaten up so much of my time it is unreal...

I need to say a BIG Thank you to dariusd, who has put me on the right track to fixing this issue...

I seriously hope my pain in sorting this issue will help and aid others

Ok... so nothing but nothing, would sort this issue, BRIDGING would simply not work with any amount of playing with settings, drivers, the configuration in either host or VM windows.

Periodically bridging would work, but once it stopped that was it never again

The problem turned out to be my very Premium Cisco Switch, I have a managed Cisco WS-C2960X-48TS-L, which I honestly thought was fine

As with anything CISCO, it is the best and seriously, brilliant kit,  but boy, they are no easy thing to configure and set, up as most of it done via TELNET and command-line interface with loads of cisco script

well I headed off to CISCO downloaded the latest firmware and then tried to upgrade the latest firmware to the switch by using the switches web interface

I selected the new file and hit upgrade

Bad move...... this upgrade took forever and ended up corrupting the firmware and the upgrade and totally broke the switch, the 48 channel switch rebooted and all I had was one system LED light flashing,

ALL 48 ports were DEAD, the whole switch was inoperable and I had lost the web interface to the switch too!, my network was DEAD. Not a great place to be as every PC now had NO internet or network to my servers..

What a mess.......

Out came and small Netgear 8 way unmanaged switch, my Cisco management Port cable, PUTTY software, TFTP software

I repatched my sever and various network cables to the 8 way switch

I installed a TFTP server on my server, added the CISCO firmware to the TFTP server

Run PUTTY software on my local PC, that was connected to the CISCO switch via the RS232 and management port

and started typing loads of script from the CISCO command-line interface instructions,

I needed to transfer the CISCO firmware from TFTP server software on my server into the FLASH area on the Switch and did this via CISCO script in PUTTY

I could then instruct via more script the switch to install and upgrade the non-corupted recently TFTP uploaded firmware

after many switch reboots and about 20mins and not knowing if things were going well or not ... eventually, the switch rebooted and bang I had a working 48 channel switch, but No web access to the switch

Had to reassign the switch IP and subnet, once done the switch was working via a web interface too.

Everything looked totally different from the old web firmware, and much more impressive and more control over the switch and each port

Now I had a working network again, I headed back to VMware and my virtual VM workstation

I removed the physical second intel network adapter

I removed all VM interfaces in the Network manager and only created one at Vnet0 interface and set it to bridging  on my realtek network card

to my amazement, I launched the VM windows and the network taskbar Icon was good and I had chrome working with google.

oh my gosh all this time it was the CISCO network switch doing funny things with the bridging???

the strange part that confused me was the host internet and the network was fine, it just would not bridge

but the new firmware seems to have corrected this issue

Still can not get the Virtual Printer to work in Window 7 and map to my Window10 Host printers ??? but that's job for another day, they do map in windows 8.1 but not in win 7 ??

anyway, after much much heartache, I have rectified the bridging, if anyone else has managed switches, they may possibly run into security port issues for host and VM bridging

IF YOU ARE USING A MANAGED NETWORK SWITCH, IT'S POSSIBLE THIS WILL MESS UP VM BRIDGING, IF THE SWITCH SUPPORTS PORT SECURITY....

Regards